Monday, April 16, 2007

I love Nick Drake, but contrary to most people I find this album to be the least interesting of his three albums. It is the most intimist of his albums and mostly composed of Drake and his guitar playing songs. It is also a very short album. So this album keeps his inspired songwriting and his great guitar playing but is missing one of my favourite elements fro his other two albums, which are the great string arrangements. Maybe it's because I like flashy stuff, but this one just doesn't hook me like his other albums.

It is a surprisingly peaceful album, and it is interesting that his was his last album before he commited suicide. This sounds like a man at peace with himself, and that is maybe why all those retro-emo kids love this album so much. Still, there so much to commend here, this is probably the most peaceful singer-songwriter album on the list... but there is also a lack of fire here which is quite sad.

It's like Drake has lost the will to live but had made his peace with it. It is not particularly depressing, but it seems like he is not caring very much anymore. It's really not an album that I would want to have playing all the time, Five Leaves Left was beautifully produced and Bryter Later was shinning with positiveness and warmth. Pink Moon is much more intimate but also much more detached and in the end not as good as the other two albums. Get it from Amazon UK or US.

Track Highlights

1. Pink Moon2. From The Morning3. Know4. Place To Be

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The cover of the album features an illustration by the partner of Drake's sister Gabrielle, Michael Trevithick.

Initially, Pink Moon garnered a small amount of critical attention, but after Drake's death it received widespread public and critical acclaim. The music on Pink Moon is strikingly sparse and unadorned (especially in comparison to Drakes' previous recordings), leading some to consider it to be the least accessible of his three albums, though it nevertheless continues to be thought of by many as his greatest work.

In 2003, the album was ranked number 320 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

The title track was used in a Volkswagen advertisement in the US in 2000.